St. Augustine Report

Published by the Department of Public Affairs, City of St. Augustine. Florida August 16 2011

Seawall a continuing priority

The City commission last week signed on to a multi-party Memorandum of Agreement to bring the city "one step closer to the approval of funding for the Seawall Project" south of the Bridge of Lions.

The memorandum satisfies historic and environmental requirements of the project application.

The next step will be approval of a funding contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The $7.092 million project includes 75% from FEMA and 25% in city matching funds, $2 million.

The Florida National Guard, whose headquarters are at the south end of the 1,200-foot project extending from the Santa Maria Restaurant, joined with the city in the application.

"Built in the 1840's by graduates of West Point, spanning the bay front of downtown St. Augustine, the seawall was designed to provide flood control and stabilize the shoreline," according to a Guard statement.

"However, over 160 years of regular tides and frequent hurricanes, the coquina and mortar of the wall have deteriorated to allow frequent flooding events. The crumbling seawall not only puts the nation's oldest city at risk of flood damage, but it also compromises access to the Florida National Guard headquarters."

Years, floods

since aid plea

"The seawall has failed, continues to fail and must be addressed quickly."

This quote from the National Guard understates the urgency of correcting the failing seawall.

Design work began twelve years ago, and the project was "shovel ready" for federal stimulus funding, but other national projects prevailed.

The current funding effort is focused on FEMA, and cites "significant damage to the St. Augustine Seawall during Tropical Storm Faye in 2008."

In the past twelve years the seawall has been breached numerous times, including the 2004 "Season of Hurricanes."

Seawall designed

to preserve original

City Manager John Regan told commissioners last week as they approved a Memorandum of Agreement with FEMA, "The priority from the beginning has been preservation of the historic coquina seawall."

Public Works Director Martha Graham notes, "The point of constructing a new seawall east of the existing wall is so that the historic wall can be preserved, which is paramount, even over the flooding."

The plan is to construct a new seawall twelve feet further into the bay, along a 1,200-foot range.

The current concrete "ding wall" would be removed and ground elevation lowered to expose 2-3 feet of the original seawall.

A 12-foot area between the original and new seawalls would be filled and capped with a coquina/concrete surface as a promenade.

The new seawall would be four feet from grade to maximize viewing of the bay from Avenida Menendez.

Seawall preservation detail

450^th events being considered

450 City logo

Here's a conceptual list of 450^th commemoration events under consideration by city officials.

In the list, prepared by city Heritage Director Dana Ste. Claire, Expo Pavilion is the proposed redesign of the Visitor Center to provide exhibition space, promenade is the area between the Visitor Center and parking facility, and TBA - locations to be announced.

2012

March 18 Spanish Constitution Bicentennial Celebration simultaneously with dedication ceremonies of Spanish Constitution Monument obelisk replicas at Cadiz and Aviles, Spain. City of St. Augustine, Consul General of Spain, Spain-Florida Foundation. Dedication of plaque donated by Spain-Florida Foundation.

April 21 Fashion of the Americas on the Plaza and Promenade. Eco Latino and Morris Communications, St. Augustine Record

May 3 - 6 Culturally La Florida: Spain's New World Legacy. Citywide cultural exposition with demonstrations, traditions, folklore, music, lectures, performances. Flagler College, Florida Humanities Council, City of St. Augustine, other partners.

May 14-20 Romanza's 450th Commemoration Kick-Off Party. Music, dance and the arts.

2013

Jan 25 Peoples Before Ponce. Native Americans in Florida History exhibition opens at St. Augustine Expo Pavilion (VIC) in conjunction with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Native America cultural pavilions exhibit traditional crafts, food, music and dance.

April 2 500th Anniversary Celebration of Juan Ponce de Leon's Discovery of Florida and America in conjunction with Viva Florida (Florida Department of State) and the Spain-Florida Foundation at Expo Pavilion.

April 6 Reenactment of Landing of Juan Ponce de Leon. St. Augustine Bayfront.

April 6 Stanley Parris departs from the City of St. Augustine marina with full escort on the Spirit of St. Augustine racing yacht for round-the-world Discovery Voyage in conjunction with NASA (unconfirmed sponsorship).

April 12 New World Meets Old exhibition opens at the St. Augustine Expo Pavilion with second interpretive layer that showcases contact period artifacts from the days of discovery. The New World in the Eyes of Explorers exhibit, artifacts, and interpretation from Juan Ponce de Leon's voyages are displayed.

May 2 - 5 Culturally La Florida: Spain's New World Legacy. Citywide cultural exposition with demonstrations, traditions, folklore, music, lectures, performances. Flagler College, Florida Humanities Council, City of St. Augustine, other partners.

Sept 8 Unearthing First America exhibition component added to St. Augustine Expo Pavilion main exhibit. Borders of Paradise map and archive display as well as Menendez settlement artifacts and interpretation are layered in.

2014

Feb 22 The British Are Coming! exhibition component is added to the main exhibit at the St. Augustine Expo Pavilion. 250th Anniversary of British rule of St. Augustine.

July 2 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Civil Rights and African-American History exhibition opens, museum or gallery TBA. Presented in conjunction with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and Andrew Young Foundation.

July 2 - 6 Civil Rights Movement program series, Black Heritage Festival, Fort Mose reenactment and many other programs part of a citywide presentation on African-American through St. Augustine's 450 years of history.

2015

Feb 21 First America exhibition opens at St. Augustine Expo Pavilion, a comprehensive show on the founding of St. Augustine and America by Menendez in 1565.

March 7 Age of Opulence: Flagler's St. Augustine exhibition opens at Flagler College, Crisp-Ellert Gallery, etc. Program series. Flagler College.

April 2 - 5 International Spanish Food & Wine Festival in conjunction with Epcot/Disney World's International Food & Wine Festival (unconfirmed sponsorship) with the countries of Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, et al. participating.

Sept 5 - 8 450th Grand Founder's Day Celebration at Expo Pavilion and citywide including official countdown clock at Expo Pavilion on September 8.

Nov 21 Grand 450th Commemoration Ball at Lightner Museum Grand Ballroom or Flagler College Dining Hall. King and Queen of Spain preside (unconfirmed).

History's Highlight

Military Academy grads designed seawall

4 years, 24 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary

A streetside marker placed by the West Point Society of North Florida and the Florida Department of State describes the construction of the seawall.

This portion of the St. Augustine sea wall, extending from King Street to the south end of St. Francis Barracks, was constructed during the period 1833 to 1844. The coquina wall with granite top served as protection for the homes and businesses on the waterfront. Seawall historic marker

Stone for the walls was quarried across the Matanzas River on Anastasia Island. The granite coping came from Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Together with the refurbishing of the Castillo de San Marcos, renamed Fort Marion by the Army, this project was an early example of the work assigned to graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, the first engineering school in the United States.

This was one of the earliest federally funded projects in the Territory of Florida.

The West Point graduates who designed and supervised the work were: 1st Lieutenant Stephen Tuttle (1797-1833; Class of 1820), 1st Lieutenant Francis L. Dancy (1806-1890; Class of 1826), 1st Lieutenant Henry W. Benham (1818-1884); Class of 1837) and 1st Lieutenant Jeremy F. Gilmer (1818-1883; Class of 1839).

(Local historian David Nolan says one of the lieutenants on the team deliberately made the seawall only wide enough for two people holding tight to each other to walk. Chaperones had to walk behind them.)

The St. Augustine Report is published by the Department of Public Affairs of the City of St. Augustine each Tuesday and on Fridays previewing City Commission meetings. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, former St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and Commissioner (2006-2008) and a longtime newspaper reporter and editor. Contact The Report at gardner@aug.com